in right now. we want to go our global affairs anchor, christiane amanpour. she joins us from jerusalem this morning. good morning, christiane. what we know, now, the defense minister, the president assad's brother-in-law, both killed. this was a strike right at the heart of the syrian power structure. >> reporter: george, it absolutely is. it's unprecedented. we've seen defections and high level generals defect but not seen such high level officials right at the heart, as you say, of defense and intelligence and security structure, attacked in this brazen and bold way and such high level officials killed. the defense minister, and very important officials, given they're pitted against this growing rebellion, and of course, president assad is calling these people terrorists, so has an army statesman said, and they vow to crack down. this is very close to the presidential palace, very close on the heals of major fighting, unprecedented levels of fighting in damascus. this is a turning point, george. >> that was going to be my question. president assad started to lose his hold on the coun